While my Substack is devoted to my free-time, fun-time writing time, I am actually a journalist/reporter by trade. Find my full portfolio here.
This summer I’m working as a Digital Content Producer for NBC Olympics, covering the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Yes, oui oui indeed.
Here is a selection of my latest and greatest by-lines for NBC - click the headline on each to navigate to your article of choice! Make sure to follow me on X or Instagram for my latest Olympic work. Enjoy!
P.S. - the table tennis story has everything: whiff-whaff (read to learn more), trademarks, Richard Nixon, Forest Gump, and a link to an Enrique Iglesias song, so definitely check that one out first
It’s table tennis, NOT ping-pong
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games will welcome back the fastest sport played on a tabletop: table tennis.
Have you called it ping-pong before? Excusez-Moi but that is an Olympic faux pas. The sport is formally recognized internationally and Olympically as table tennis.
Confused? NBC Olympics breaks down the history of table tennis, and why you might have called it ping-pong.
How Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss spoke their Olympic dreams into a Paris reality
On her 24th birthday in 2021, beach volleyball player Taryn Kloth received an unusual present: an ankle bracelet inscribed with the future date, August 11, 2024.
The date was significant, said gift giver Kristen Nuss, Kloth’s best friend and beach volleyball partner at Louisiana State University.
“I put that date because I was like, ‘On this day, we’ll be gold medalists,’” admitted Nuss, who has a matching ankle bracelet.
But there was just one major obstacle in the pairs’ plan to lift the gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games: they hadn’t even turned pro yet.
The ankle bracelet started an unlikely journey for the duo, one of passion, vulnerability, commitment and a total rewrite of the professional beach volleyball script.
Jordan Larson focused on giving back in Paris after reversing retirement
Jordan Larson retired on top. The U.S. women's national volleyball team captain had a picture-perfect career. The outside hitter had done and won it all: an NCAA title, a World Championship, Grand Prix and Nations League gold medals and most notably, led the U.S. women's team to a historic gold medal finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There was little else left for Larson to do in volleyball than hang up her knee pads. So, no one was surprised when Larson did just that and announced in March 2020 that she would retire after the Tokyo Games.
But Larson shocked not just the world but even herself after she announced in May 2023 that she had reversed her retirement decision and was a 2024 Paris Games hopeful.
Tennis court surfaces fan guide
While the rules and court size regulations across international professional tennis tournaments remain the same, with each new season comes a new variable: the tennis court surface. Here is a breakdown of the three prominent tennis court surfaces used on the professional tennis circuits and at the Olympics.
Thanks for supporting my Olympic [writing] dreams.